Decorative light strings, as that term is used herein, comprise a plurality of lampholders connected together in a flexible string. The lampholders comprise a hollow insulating body portion within which the base of a lamp is retained. One such exemplary lampholder and lightstring is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,409, of common ownership herewith, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference thereto.
Various means have been proposed for retaining the lampholders on supporting structure, exemplary of which are the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ 2,057,078 Abramson 2,259,733 Benander 2,889,451 Longo 3,291,428 Sisalak 3,341,699 Somermeyer 3,678,443 Koehler 3,883,926 Reynolds 5,021,706 Chen ______________________________________
One prior art approach to the problem of retaining lampholders on a supporting structure, as exemplified by Longo, is to use specifically matable elements, one of which is attached to or integrated with the lampholder, the other of which is secured to the supporting structure at conveniently spaced apart intervals.
A second prior an approach is to provide lampholders with a more or less general purpose clip means which can be used to engage with and grasp support structures of low specificity. Examples of this can be found in Koehler, commonly owned herewith, wherein the clip means is formed by a pair of jaws which will grasp elongated rod like structures, and in Reynolds, wherein the jaws are adapted to grasp rafters and roof boards adjacent to eaves of a dwelling.
Given that the lampholders are normally formed into light strings with up to about fifty lights, and that several of such strings may be employed to decorate a building, the need to provide the lampholders with the capability of grasping a wide range of supports is desirable, particularly where those supports are those that are commonly associated with the building structure, or where they may be supplemented by cheap, ubiquitous supports that are easily installed onto the building structure. It is also desirable that the lampholders be attachable whereby they can be oriented for maximum safety and effect, with the lamps possibly upwardly or downwardly oriented or horizontally oriented.
It is still further desirable that the improvements to the lampholders not substantially increase their cost.
It is an object of this invention to provide in lampholders and light strings clip means which is adapted to grasp and secure to widely different types of adventitious supports and semi-specific supports to facilitate the installation of the light strings onto buildings.
It is another object of this invention to provide in lampholders and light strings clip means that facilitate the installation of light strings with the lights thereof in a desirable orientation.
It is still another object of the invention to provide lampholders and light strings with improved clip means that are economic to produce and which are robust and easily installed.